A liberal arts degree is not just any degree. There is so much more to a liberal arts degree than just the job it will lead us to one day. It gives true life lessons and broadens one’s horizon to the world around us. Students will receive “actual human value instead of just a material payoff” (The Carolina Reader XI). Liberal arts students learn how to think and how to think critically. They learn to think more in depth about everything around them. Not everything in life is how it appears on the surface. To one, something can mean one thing and to someone else it can be the complete opposite. There is a deeper meaning to every situation that we on the outside do not know. When we assume anything before knowing the story behind it, we are most likely wrong. Wallace writes that the situations he tends “to be automatically certain of is, it turns out, totally wrong and deluded” (The Carolina Reader XII). We all learn that the hard way. We all go about our lives making assumptions because it is our natural default setting. Our natural default setting is that we believe we are at the center of the universe. Everything is solely focused on us because it is our lives we are living. It is what we are only used to. In “This Is Water” by David Foster Wallace, Wallace educates us on how to consciously go about having a better way of thinking by opening ourselves up to the world around us through allegorical and figurative language. 

In life, a certain story is “merely that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about” (The Carolina Reader X). David Foster Wallace begins his commencement speech with a short parable about three fish swimming in the water. One who is an older, wiser fish and the other two who are much younger. The older fish asks them how the water is today and immediately the two younger ones begin to ponder what exactly water even is. Little instances like these cause us to change the way we think. There is simply just a deeper meaning to what water is in this case. To one fish it is one thing, and to another it is something else. We do not ever think about the deeper meaning behind a certain circumstance because we are currently in our own little world. Foster Wallace constantly harps on the word “YOU” and “MY.” These words are constantly sticking out, especially when the author capitalizes them to add emphasis. The author is getting at that we view the world in our own shoes because our own world is being experienced through ourselves. Wallace uses theses very specific possessive pronouns to highlight how we all truly do view the world around us. These words come at you and leave a resounding effect on the reader. They catch the readers eye instantly and make you think. You begin to question yourself and how you go about your own life. That is Wallace’s goal. He gets your attention to help bring light to our natural default setting.

Wallace utilizes multiple types of writing styles. He narrates short little parables to relate to the reader. He purposely tells the story of the two men in Alaska sitting in the bar to illustrate in a much clearer way that “the exact same experience can mean two totally different things to two totally different people” (The Carolina Reader XI). Wallace uses these short stories because of the audience he is talking to: college graduates. These little narrations Wallace uses effectively grabs the reader’s attention because for young adults, they are easier to understand and pay attention to. No college graduate wants to listen to someone at a podium go on and ramble out how we need to change our perception about the world around us. Wallace understands that. He directs his language to his audience. Wallace also uses descriptive writing to get his points across firmly. He lays out exactly what the reader should be doing to change the way he/she thinks. David Foster Wallace’s very specific word choice and choice of language relates to the overall theme of the text through his stories and descriptions of how we all think and then how we should think. The author’s word choice is strong in the fact that it stays with you throughout the text. His short sentences leave a lasting impact on you from start to finish. 

David Foster Wallace addresses our problems in society in “This Is Water.” Wallace’s style of writing is effective and easily comprehensible. His word choice is in your face in a good way. It is a good thing in the sense that he makes you think. The reader is forced to think about how they look at instances in which they immediately make judgements without knowing the full story. Wallace gets his message across to his directed audience in an appropriate way that they will understand. 
